NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT OF CO-OPERATIVES ACT,2005

The President has determined 2 May 2007 as the date on which the Co- operatives Act,2005 (Act 14 of 2005), will come into operation. The Minister of Trade and Industry has furthermore approved the Co-operatives Administrative Regulations under the said Act, which will also come into operation on 2 May 2007. Both the Proclamation for the commencement of the Act and the Government Notice containing the Co-operatives Administrative Regulations will be published in the Government Gazette on 30 April 2007.

FORMS

The regulations will, inter alia, prescribe the registration process for new co-operatives and the following forms will be of importance to co-operatives and potential co-operatives: -

• Form CR1 - Application for registration of primary/secondary/tertiary co-operative;

• Form CR2 - Return relating to directors

• Form CR3 - Notice of addresses and contact particulars of co-operative and changes thereof;

• Form CR4 - Notice of appointment of auditor and consent to act as auditor, or resignation by auditor and removal of auditor;

• Form CR5 - Application for reservation of name or translated form or shortened form of name;

• Form CR6- Special resolution;

• Form CR7 - Lodgement of financial statements;

• Form CR8 - Application for exemption from full compliance with auditing requirements; and

• Form CR9 - Special resolution for voluntary winding up of co-operative.

All prescribed forms will be available on the CIPRO Website, for downloading and/or printing. Hard copies of the forms will be available at the CIPRO Office, Block F, DTI Campus, Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria, as well as at all SEDA Offices countrywide and at the Offices of the Departments of Economic Development and Tourism in all Provinces.

FEES

The more important fees prescribed in the regulations are the following: -

MANNER OF PAYMENT OF FEES

Revenue stamps will not be a valid form of payment for prescribed fees as was the case under the previous Co-operatives Act, 1981.

All fees payable pursuant to the provisions of the Co-operatives Act, 2005, must be paid either by means of –

• direct deposit or electronic transfer at any bank into the CIPRO bank account
• Visa, Mastercard or American Express credit card payment into CIPRO bank account; or
• cash or debit card payment at the CIPRO Office.

Particulars of the CIPRO account are as follows :

IMPORTANT NOTES ON PAYMENT:

To enable any person to perform any transaction with CIPRO, he or she must first register as a customer with CIPRO and obtain a customer code. This is a once off process and the customer code must be used as reference number in all transactions with CIPRO. Should any further transactions requiring payment of any fee be required this customer code may be used. This registration may be performed on the CIPRO Website, www.cipro.co.za, and also at the CIPRO Offices in Pretoria, all SEDA Offices countrywide and at the Offices of the Departments of Economic Development and Tourism in all Provinces.

Any fee payable under the Co-operatives Act, 2005, must be paid only after registering as a customer and must be done in advance prior to lodgement of any form stating the customer code as the CIPRO reference.

When lodging any document requiring payment of a prescribed fee, proof of payment of that fee (deposit slip containing customer code) must accompany the documents.

LODGEMENT OF DOCUMENTS

Until further notice all applications for registration of new co-operatives must, together with proof of payment of the prescribed fee (copy of deposit slip or other proof of deposit), be lodged with CIPRO directly or posted to the Registrar of Co-operatives, Private Bag X237, Pretoria, 0001, or be couriered to CIPRO at its physical address, Block F, DTI Campus, Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria.